Lars Gustafsson, born in Västerås in 1936, is one of Europe's most acclaimed writers. He has published scores of novels, poetry books, travel writings, plays, and critical essays, covering areas ranging from literary criticism through philosophy to politics. For several decades he has been one of the most prominent cultural figures in Sweden. Behind his active participation in so many different areas of social and political debate carried out in newspapers and journals, Gustafsson has a solid academic background, with degrees in philosophy from both Uppsala and Oxford. He has been a professor of philosophy and literature at the University of Texas at Austin for more than a quarter century.

He is well represented in English translation. Among his novels available in English are The Tennis Players, The Death of a Beekeeper, Bernard Foy's Third Casting, A Tale of a Dog, and A Tiler's Afternoon. His lyrical works, also prominently translated, are considered rare examples of formal mastery in contemporary literature, sometimes reminiscent of those of his great colleague Tomas Tranströmer. Twenty years ago Gustafsson converted to Judaism. Recently he celebrated the bar mitzvah of his son, who was, he claimed, the first Gustafsson in history to be celebrated in this way.